Everytime I meet someone and we start talking about music, the first thing they always ask me is, “Hey Dylan! Who’s your favorite band?” That’s when I always reply, “Hey! That’s a hard ass question.” So for my first post I decided I needed to sit down and solve this question once and for all. These are MY favorite bands and most of you will think this list is idiotic. Well o.k. it kind of is:

1. MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA

I remember the day my older brother put that round disc in my hand labeled “Manchester Orchestra”. His sloppy all-caps hand writing already had my interest, but when I listened to their debut album “I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child” I became even more interested. As you can tell from the name of the CD, their lyrics are kind of dark (which isn’t really up my alley), but the way they jam out and manage energy definitely makes up for it. They have made two other albums since then: “Mean Everything to Nothing (my favorite) and “Simple Math“.

2. THE RANCONTEURS

To me this is Jack White at his finest. This band brings the hard jammin of Jack on the electric, but can also slow it down and get folk on you. “Carolina Drama” is one of the best lyrical songs of the last 10 years and proves how great this band truely is.

3. THE BEATLES

There is really nothing to say here, they’re The F****** Beatles. My favorite song by these unbelievably cool Brits is “A Day In The Life“.

4. COLD WAR KIDS

Last year at Austin City Limits I was given a hell of a choice to make: go with all my friends to see Foster the People, or go with my heart and see a band I’ve loved for a long time now- Cold War Kids. Obviously I left those imbeciles and saw the show of my life. My favorite song they straight kill is “Audience“. CWKs have this weird off tune style that just makes me want to do the romp. Which leads me to my next band…

5. THE BLACK KEYS

One of the great things I got from my Grandpa is an appreciation for some good ol’ Blues music. The Black Keys early albums, especially “Magic Potion”, mix blues and rock at a perfect point creating music that you can’t help but to roll down your window and jam out to. The best thing is, only 2 people are making all that damn noise.

6. THOMAS PETTY

The man who taught me how to put my party dress on. If you don’t like Tom Petty you can get the frick out. I feel like a bad music fan putting him at the 6 hole but that’s the way it has to be.

7. MY MORNING JACKET

I missed this boat by a couple of years, but it was worth the swim to catch up to it. I saw them at ACL last year and it was probably the best show I’ve ever seen. I mean, they ended the show by brining a full jazz band to play on the stage with them. If you remotely like their albums, you will freaking love them after you see them live.

8. LED ZEPPLIN

If I wasn’t such a young pups, this for sure would have been my favorite band. Jimmy Page jamming out on the electric alone is enough to sit you back in your chair. If you havn’t seen the documentary on Netflix called, “It Might Get Loud” you better cancel your plans tonight.

9. VAMPIRE WEEKEND

I’m not big into how electronic alternative rock has become, and Vampire Weekend is probably a big reason all that started. Having said that, you can frequently catch me dancing-while-driving screaming, “Who gives a f*** about an oxford comma?” quite often. I’m Going Down- Vampire Weeknd (Bruce Cover)

10. O.A.R

So many more bands deserve to be on this list, but none more than this reggae/rock band. This was the very first concert I saw, them along with Jack’s Mannequinn, and I think they stole a piece of my virgin ears that night and that’s why they made the cut. Don’t get me wrong, their new music sucks, but they really did use to be great. My friends and I have spent many nights having a few too many brewskis and blarring “Crazy Game of Poker“.